IOC’s four-year haul: $5 billion

In case, for some reason, you thought the Olympics is simply a celebration of sports and athletic achievement, the International Olympic Committee’s finances should act as a necessary corrective.

The Sports Business Journal reports that in the past four years the IOC had revenues of $5 billion, $3.9 billion of which came from television income during 2009-2012 — a 50% rise over the previous four-year period.

Not bad for a body that only holds an event every two years.

The other roughly $1 billion, reports SBJ, comes from the IOC’s TOP (The Olympic Partner) sponsors.

Being a TOP sponsor is a serious business, with each company paying an estimated $100 million for a four-year deal and likely spending up to four times that amount to capitalize on the association; the London Games will be the culmination of years of planning, as we described in our profile of three of these sponsors. See also: Coca-Cola, Visa pay up to win at the world’s biggest event

Of course, it would be naïve to think that Olympics aren’t about money, and that the IOC doesn’t have a right to generate billions of dollars in revenue. But with all the marketing and advertising swirling around the Games, as sponsors try to eke out as much as they can from their investment, some are asking how much is enough? Read a Guardian story on marketing hype.

Nothing, may be the IOC’s response, given how far it seems willing to go to protect its sponsors — you may not know it, but we’re in the middle of a moratorium on Olympic athletes appearing in any ads for non-IOC and national Olympic Committee partners that lasts until Aug. 15. Of course, not everyone thinks that’s a good idea, but when there are billions to be earned, who’s going to stop the gravy train? See: The Washington Post

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